Deborah Baska, vice president of marketing operations, told CSP Daily News that when the project was first discussed last March, the company knew it would want to focus on the future. "Then that led us to ask, well what will fuel the future? [image-nocss] Because whatever will fuel the future is what CarterEnergy will be," she said.
The campaign includes a new website, whatwillfuelthefuture.com, which has an idea book that people can contribute to with their thoughts, and pictures of what the future of fuels may hold. There is also the Carter Classroom, which gives teachers education materials that can be used in schools. And the Energy Fun section gives children the opportunity to expand their energy education through online games and activities.
Perhaps the most visible part of the campaign, however, is the "What Will Fuel the Future?" RoadShow, which consists of seven exhibits to engage people about energy.
The RoadShow launched at the Dallas Auto Show in early March, and about 3,000 people have seen it so far. Baska says the feedback has been very positive.
"The kids surprisingly have been learning about this in school, and I was surprised by how many of them were familiar with terminology such as renewable and nonrenewable," she said. "But it's always good to see that even though the kids are learning about this in school, that our exhibit for the most part was able to teach them a few interesting fun facts that they might not have gotten in school."
The exhibits include:
"What is Energy," which teaches the terminology surrounding the definition of energy and its forms. "Timeline," which takes participants back to prehistoric times to learn about the first energy sources through pictures and words. "I think one of the interesting things about the timeline is that it shows that some of the alternative energy sources that we're looking at today, and trying to understand how to use, have been in our history since the 1800s," Baska said. "From Fossil to Tank" is an interactive, hands-on model that teaches about the origins of petroleum products, as well as the process of turning it into fuel through to ending up at gas stations. "Emerging Energy Sources" shows how new fuel technology is being developed from emerging forms of renewable energy, such as wind, solar and ethanol. "The CarterEnergy Story" is a scrapbook of the company's history. "It's the only part of the exhibit that really talks about CarterEnergy: who we are, who we have been and who we will be," Baska said. "Energy Interactive" is a quiz that tests visitors on what they learned in the exhibit. The "Fuels of the Future Racing Game" is a remote-controlled car racing game. By passing the Energy Interactive quiz, visitors get a "Pit Pass" that allows them to participate in the game. The RoadShow will travel through the Kansas City, Branson, Mo., Topeka, Kansas, Dallas, Denver and Oklahoma City areas, stopping at public events, customer locations and schools over at least the next three years.
"What I'd like to see happen is that it's so successful that we update it, and we continue taking it around past three years," Baska said. "Because it's really designed to be something that educators can use to complement what they're teaching or else to build a curriculum around."
Founded in 1960 by Sam Carter, CarterEnergy has grown from a one-store retail operator to a multi-branded, nine-state fuel distributor.
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